With electronic programming guides, individuals are plagued with a wide variety of information from a multitude of sources. The decision on what to watch, listen to or interact with can become quite cumbersome particularly in light of the fact that all of the various information sources present information at different times. For example, traditional media information is available on a time and channel basis only. In other words, because the typical source of Audio-Visual entertainment is not owned by a content participant, a participant can only enjoy such information live or for a fixed time portion. As such, the availability of the entertainment is usually published with a specified channel or location where the information will be available, along with some indication of the time period during which the information is available.
If an individual intends to participate in a particular media event, the individual must locate the appropriate channel/location at the allotted time, as set by the service that is providing the content. For example, locating a particular event of interest would require a search by the individual. A search can involve multiple time slots, which could mean days, weeks or months of content presentation programming must be sifted through in order to locate the event of interest. In the alternative, the individual may purchase media that contains the content programming of interest, so that it can be experienced at the individual's leisure. Either of these options can become daunting, considering the vast quantities and formats of movies, music, books and other content programs that exist in digital form. Conversely, one of the drawbacks of the purchase option is the fact that the content media may or may not be available for purchase at the moment of the intended participant's interest. For example, there is the initial cost of the medium and the additional costs associated with storing the medium among other things. Yet another drawback is the fact that an individual must potentially rely on their memory or an extensive cataloging system of some sort to determine if they own a particular content program and where the program is located.
Aside from the multiple forms of content programs, there is also a vast variety of sources even for similar content types. For example, Kansas City Jazz music content is available on cable TV, music CD's, the internet and live at local establishments. There is no single unified presentation of multi-source content programming. Locating content from various sources requires a user to consult multiple programming guides. It is tedious at best, for a user to coordinate participation in multi-source events. Returning to the previous example, assume an individual was interested in experiencing two performances of a particular jazz artist, one live and the other on cable television. The individual must locate various catalogs, magazines and schedules to determine the where and when. Then the individual must plan accordingly. This task becomes even more cumbersome when multiple events by multiple artists are considered.
Even when the appropriate information source is located, the presentation of content availability and schedules is limited. For example, in the case of movies, television shows or radio broadcasts, a title and show time are primarily the only information that is readily available to a user. In order to find out any other details regarding an event, the user must turn to other information sources. There is no information source that provides or conveys multiple pieces of content information simultaneously to a would be content participant. There is no multi-dimensional presentation of content programming. A multi-dimensional presentation of content enables the user, the content itself, or a service or template to provide/help set the criteria of what is presented. In other words, currently available systems and methods for conveying content programming can be thought of as being two-dimensional, that is they provide a channel and a time dimension.
In another aspect of content programming, the delivery or user experience of any content programming is generally limited to one or two devices within the user's space. For example, when watching a movie at home, the user's experience is delivered by the display system and perhaps a stereo system. Such delivery does not fully utilize the potential of other devices within the home, nor does it take advantage of the connectivity and communications that are available between hardware and software devices within the home.
In light of the foregoing, there exists a need to provide a system and method that will enable more convenient presentation of digital content, from multiple sources preferably in a manner that is flexible, consistent and adapted to the preferences of the end user.